My Transition Story
September, 2004
My own career path is similar to many of my
clients. I followed a certain educational and career
path, found relative success, but was not happy. I
knew I had to make a change, but I did not know
what that change was, let alone how to do it. And
my transition took longer than I ever thought it
would.
I earned a BA in Computer Science from Dartmouth
(it’s a very liberal arts computer science degree), and
an MBA from Wharton. I always wanted to “have
an impact on the world”, but I did not know what
that meant. Although I had no idea what I wanted to
do when I went to business school, it was the late
1980’s and hi-tech was very hot. With my computer
science degree and my MBA, it seemed very logical
for me to seek a job in the technology world. After
all, what was having a bigger impact on the world at
that time than technology? I found a job at Apple
(“The Power to Be Your Best” and “Changing the
World One Person At A Time”!), and after that held
positions a Senior Product Manager at Sun
Microsystems and a Senior Marketing Manager at
Autodesk. I always worked on interesting, new,
strategic technology. I made decent money. Other
people thought some of my jobs sounded ‘cool’.
But, I was increasingly unhappy in each job. I was
not having the impact I wanted to have. The
problem was: I did not know what impact that was.
Next Page
My own career path is similar to many of my
clients. I followed a certain educational and career
path, found relative success, but was not happy. I
knew I had to make a change, but I did not know
what that change was, let alone how to do it. And
my transition took longer than I ever thought it
would.
I earned a BA in Computer Science from Dartmouth
(it’s a very liberal arts computer science degree), and
an MBA from Wharton. I always wanted to “have
an impact on the world”, but I did not know what
that meant. Although I had no idea what I wanted to
do when I went to business school, it was the late
1980’s and hi-tech was very hot. With my computer
science degree and my MBA, it seemed very logical
for me to seek a job in the technology world. After
all, what was having a bigger impact on the world at
that time than technology? I found a job at Apple
(“The Power to Be Your Best” and “Changing the
World One Person At A Time”!), and after that held
positions a Senior Product Manager at Sun
Microsystems and a Senior Marketing Manager at
Autodesk. I always worked on interesting, new,
strategic technology. I made decent money. Other
people thought some of my jobs sounded ‘cool’.
But, I was increasingly unhappy in each job. I was
not having the impact I wanted to have. The
problem was: I did not know what impact that was.
Next Page
| "Different choices are right for us at different times. The decision to pursue a career in high tech marketing was the right decision at that time. The experiences I gained in that part of my career were invaluable to me in my work today." |
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Ricki Frankel
Executive and Career Coach
Executive and Career Coach
Create the change you want